Chris Gilbert
Biographic Data
| ID | 3672100 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Chris Gilbert |
| GIVEN NAMES | Chris |
| FAMILY NAME | Gilbert |
| SIGNATURE | GILBERT C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Av. Principal Colinas de Bello Monte Distrito Capital Caracas, Venezuela 1041 |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8464-3358 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
José Carlos Mariátegui and Local Traditions of Struggle
The relationship between Marxism and other revolutionary traditions is a key question for our time. If we approach the issue incorrectly, we risk Eurocentrism and underrecognizing Marxism's role in the Global South contexts where it is most vital and active. This article examines and extends José Carlos Mariátegui's dialectical approach to the issue, which demonstrates how Marxism is not diluted but strengthened through engagement with the though…
Global South Struggles for Socialism and the Workers' Side of Marxism
Karl Marx originally planned to complement Capital with an additional work exploring capitalism from the side of the workers, which he never completed. In this article, Chris Gilbert argues that this projected "workers' side of Marxism" has a special relevance to the processes of anti-imperialist struggle in the Global South, explaining why they often turn to socialism despite underdeveloped productive forces and the relative scarcity of a classi…
Socialist Communes and Anti-Imperialism
Chris Gilbert proposes to answer the question: When is a socialist commune anti-imperialist? His response follows Karl Marx's line of thought, looking at the latter's approach to the commune from the Grundrisse through his late notes and letters on rural communes. After reconstructing the Marxist communal strategy, Gilbert argues that real-world projects in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil in recent times conform to this overall Marxist approach, c…
Land, Cooperation, and Socialism
João Pedro Stedile, founder and spokesperson of Brazil's Landless Workers' Movement (MST), reflects on the movement's efforts to build a socialist alternative through land occupations, cooperative production, and political education. He highlights the importance of collective struggle and the MST's deepening ties with Venezuela's communal movement as part of a broader project to construct a just and solidarious society
A Special Issue on Communes in Socialist Construction
Inspired by the Venezuelan project of building socialism via the commune, this special issue looks at attempts to use communal models in socialist projects in a range of different contexts, as well as the theoretical bases for such an endeavor. In their introduction, guest editors Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual argue that the theme of Communes in Socialist Construction is an important opportunity for engaged Marxist reflection of a kind that offe…
The Dream of a Thing
In a vividly drawn account of El Maizal Commune, Chris Gilbert provides readers with a window into the inner workings of a community refounded with an eye toward building a new "alternative communal economy." The task, Gilbert finds, is not only one that is not only revolutionary, but liberating and creative, having the potential to collectively reimagine the social relations of a community
Where Danger Lies
Chris Gilbert examines the ecological aspects of Venezuela's project of communal socialism, as well as its relation to the country's inherited extractive economy. These democratically run communities present an alternative to the extractivist and productivist social relations driving the planet to ruin
Commune or Nothing
Walking the popular education spiral - an account and analysis of participatory action research with teacher activists
This article features an account and analysis of a participatory action research (PAR) project that involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This piece has two principal aims. The first is to contribute to practitioners’ knowledge and practice by offering an account of a PAR project, grounded in popular education, that provided a beneficial space for K-12 teacher activists. The second aim is to contribute to the teacher-activ…
Traversing rough terrain
This purpose of this article is to explore challenges and tensions associated with a participatory action research (PAR) project that occurred in 2019 and involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This article opens with some brief context on the PAR project under focus before specifying the article’s analytical methods. Next, the focus shifts to a longer discussion of several tension-producing aspects of this participatory re…
Super-Exploitation from the Perspective of the Global Working Class
Mészáros and Chávez
What made István Mészáros's life so fascinating, and relevant to issues of socialist construction, was that, having seen both sides of the Cold War, he came to perceive both "real socialism" and twentieth-century capitalism as two variants of the same system. He called this the capital system. The basic commonality among most countries of both the East and the West in the twentieth century was the extraction of surplus labor from workers who did …
Luisa Cáceres Commune-Building in Urban Venezuela
A visit to a Venezuelan commune reveals a fascinating look into the creative ways communards forge ways of life in urban centers, and how these projects intersect with the much-needed transformations required for a grassroots and socially integrated ecology
A Commune Called 'Che
The Che Guevara Commune is far removed from the bustle of Venezuela's huge coastal cities. You reach it by following a steep winding road from the shores of Lake Maracaibo into La Culata National Park. Lush vegetation and tall bucare trees provide good shade for coffee and cacao, which has only begun to be farmed in recent decades in this region, due to the migration triggered by the construction of the Pan-American Highway along the lake's perim…
Red Current, Pink Tide
El Maizal's flag-waving communards are rapidly breaking down skepticism about the viability of leader Ángel Prado's election campaign, for it is undeniable that they are among the reddest elements in the so-called Pink Tide
Venezuela, the Present As Struggle
Punching the clock
This article features a Foucauldian analysis of interview data from a qualitative study of four North Carolina public school teachers who are required to clock in and out of school each day via a virtual time clock. In this article, Michel Foucault’s theories of discourse, discipline, power, and surveillance are brought into dialogue with teachers’ interview responses, and three associated analytic questions drive this article’s analytical explor…
Walter Benjamin in Venezuela
Benjamin's philosophy presents problems best addressed not academically, but in dialogue with living political processes. And it is in Latin America, particularly Venezuela, that Benjamin's ideas have been most vividly illustrated and interrogated.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website
The Turn
Chris Gilbert is the author of Across the Mutual Landscape (Graywolf Press), which received the 1983 Walt Whitman Award
The Turn
Punching the clock
This article features a Foucauldian analysis of interview data from a qualitative study of four North Carolina public school teachers who are required to clock in and out of school each day via a virtual time clock. In this article, Michel Foucault’s theories of discourse, discipline, power, and surveillance are brought into dialogue with teachers’ interview responses, and three associated analytic questions drive this article’s analytical explor…
Super-Exploitation from the Perspective of the Global Working Class
The Turn
The Turn
Chris Gilbert is the author of Across the Mutual Landscape (Graywolf Press), which received the 1983 Walt Whitman Award
Walter Benjamin in Venezuela
Benjamin's philosophy presents problems best addressed not academically, but in dialogue with living political processes. And it is in Latin America, particularly Venezuela, that Benjamin's ideas have been most vividly illustrated and interrogated.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website
Punching the clock
This article features a Foucauldian analysis of interview data from a qualitative study of four North Carolina public school teachers who are required to clock in and out of school each day via a virtual time clock. In this article, Michel Foucault’s theories of discourse, discipline, power, and surveillance are brought into dialogue with teachers’ interview responses, and three associated analytic questions drive this article’s analytical explor…
Venezuela, the Present As Struggle
Red Current, Pink Tide
El Maizal's flag-waving communards are rapidly breaking down skepticism about the viability of leader Ángel Prado's election campaign, for it is undeniable that they are among the reddest elements in the so-called Pink Tide
Walking the popular education spiral - an account and analysis of participatory action research with teacher activists
This article features an account and analysis of a participatory action research (PAR) project that involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This piece has two principal aims. The first is to contribute to practitioners’ knowledge and practice by offering an account of a PAR project, grounded in popular education, that provided a beneficial space for K-12 teacher activists. The second aim is to contribute to the teacher-activ…
Traversing rough terrain
This purpose of this article is to explore challenges and tensions associated with a participatory action research (PAR) project that occurred in 2019 and involved the author and five teacher activist co-researchers. This article opens with some brief context on the PAR project under focus before specifying the article’s analytical methods. Next, the focus shifts to a longer discussion of several tension-producing aspects of this participatory re…
Super-Exploitation from the Perspective of the Global Working Class
Mészáros and Chávez
What made István Mészáros's life so fascinating, and relevant to issues of socialist construction, was that, having seen both sides of the Cold War, he came to perceive both "real socialism" and twentieth-century capitalism as two variants of the same system. He called this the capital system. The basic commonality among most countries of both the East and the West in the twentieth century was the extraction of surplus labor from workers who did …
Luisa Cáceres Commune-Building in Urban Venezuela
A visit to a Venezuelan commune reveals a fascinating look into the creative ways communards forge ways of life in urban centers, and how these projects intersect with the much-needed transformations required for a grassroots and socially integrated ecology
A Commune Called 'Che
The Che Guevara Commune is far removed from the bustle of Venezuela's huge coastal cities. You reach it by following a steep winding road from the shores of Lake Maracaibo into La Culata National Park. Lush vegetation and tall bucare trees provide good shade for coffee and cacao, which has only begun to be farmed in recent decades in this region, due to the migration triggered by the construction of the Pan-American Highway along the lake's perim…
Where Danger Lies
Chris Gilbert examines the ecological aspects of Venezuela's project of communal socialism, as well as its relation to the country's inherited extractive economy. These democratically run communities present an alternative to the extractivist and productivist social relations driving the planet to ruin
Commune or Nothing
The Dream of a Thing
In a vividly drawn account of El Maizal Commune, Chris Gilbert provides readers with a window into the inner workings of a community refounded with an eye toward building a new "alternative communal economy." The task, Gilbert finds, is not only one that is not only revolutionary, but liberating and creative, having the potential to collectively reimagine the social relations of a community
Socialist Communes and Anti-Imperialism
Chris Gilbert proposes to answer the question: When is a socialist commune anti-imperialist? His response follows Karl Marx's line of thought, looking at the latter's approach to the commune from the Grundrisse through his late notes and letters on rural communes. After reconstructing the Marxist communal strategy, Gilbert argues that real-world projects in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil in recent times conform to this overall Marxist approach, c…
Land, Cooperation, and Socialism
João Pedro Stedile, founder and spokesperson of Brazil's Landless Workers' Movement (MST), reflects on the movement's efforts to build a socialist alternative through land occupations, cooperative production, and political education. He highlights the importance of collective struggle and the MST's deepening ties with Venezuela's communal movement as part of a broader project to construct a just and solidarious society
A Special Issue on Communes in Socialist Construction
Inspired by the Venezuelan project of building socialism via the commune, this special issue looks at attempts to use communal models in socialist projects in a range of different contexts, as well as the theoretical bases for such an endeavor. In their introduction, guest editors Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual argue that the theme of Communes in Socialist Construction is an important opportunity for engaged Marxist reflection of a kind that offe…
José Carlos Mariátegui and Local Traditions of Struggle
The relationship between Marxism and other revolutionary traditions is a key question for our time. If we approach the issue incorrectly, we risk Eurocentrism and underrecognizing Marxism's role in the Global South contexts where it is most vital and active. This article examines and extends José Carlos Mariátegui's dialectical approach to the issue, which demonstrates how Marxism is not diluted but strengthened through engagement with the though…
Global South Struggles for Socialism and the Workers' Side of Marxism
Karl Marx originally planned to complement Capital with an additional work exploring capitalism from the side of the workers, which he never completed. In this article, Chris Gilbert argues that this projected "workers' side of Marxism" has a special relevance to the processes of anti-imperialist struggle in the Global South, explaining why they often turn to socialism despite underdeveloped productive forces and the relative scarcity of a classi…
Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · History (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Political economy (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Political Economy and Marxism (4 works) · Socialism (4 works) · Art (3 works)